Chief Executive’s Overview

Steve Edwards has been the Chief Executive since June 2000 and during this time he has led the Agency through various challenges including a number of disease outbreaks. From March to July 2008 he was seconded as interim Chief Executive of our sister agency, Animal Health, during which time Chris Morrey took on the role of acting Chief Executive of VLA. Steve and Chris have jointly prepared this overview.

Headline Performance

In addition to meeting the majority of our ministerial performance targets in 2007/08, we have achieved:

• effective and quick response to three animal disease outbreaks.
• recognition by the Science Audit team that VLA is a national centre of excellence whose work and facilities are valued highly both in the UK and the wider international community.
• strong performance for customer satisfaction, exceeding our target by a significant margin.

This has been against a background of a number of changes in our governance, alongside the challenge of meeting Defra’s headcount reduction targets.

Disease Outbreaks

Avian influenza was the first call upon our disease emergency response capability during 2007 and we saw our new avian virology laboratory facility put to good use. This was followed by foot and mouth disease (FMD) in the summer followed shortly by the first cases of bluetongue in Great Britain.

During all these outbreaks we have provided veterinary and epidemiological expertise, as well as large scale testing using our laboratory services suite in the Stewart Stockman Building. This can be quickly converted to operate at containment level 4 in the event of an exotic disease emergency. For FMD and bluetongue our strong links with the Institute for Animal Health at Pirbright came to the fore, as they provide the primary diagnostic and reference laboratory services for these diseases.

A particular challenge from the FMD outbreak arose because our Weybridge site was in the surveillance zone. Our main concern, like all other livestock owners in the area, was the biosecurity of our own animals and the possible impact on our animal studies. We instituted strict controls on access to the site and to the animal units with the result that our livestock remained healthy.

Science Audit

The independent audit of VLA’s science as part of Defra’s Quinquennial Science Audit Programme was a key challenge for VLA during the year.

The audit team chaired by Professor Quintin McKellar, Principal of the Royal Veterinary College, examined the quality and value for money of our science as well as our scientific outputs over the last five years. There were four audit teams comprising scientific experts from across the world with specialisms in the fields they examined. Over a two-week period they visited our network of laboratories, met with our scientists and were presented with VLA’s scientific highlights.

We were pleased that their report acknowledged the VLA as a ‘recognised centre of excellence’ and rated the science ‘good’ overall, with many areas of scientific excellence. This is a reflection of the high level of scientific leadership of the Agency and the massive contribution of all our scientists and support staff.

Changes to Governance

Our parent department, Defra, has undergone a major transformation through its ‘Renew’ programme during the year. There have been many changes of personnel and a new governance structure for Defra’s delivery bodies including the VLA.

This includes the designation of a corporate owner for the Agency (the Chief Veterinary Officer, (CVO)) who takes on strategic overview on behalf of the Defra Management Board, and a corporate customer (the Deputy CVO) who works with us to ensure that our programmes of work are in line with Defra’s priorities within the Food and Farming Group. The CVO is advised by the VLA Owner’s Advisory Board.

We also appointed John Preston as first non-executive director of the VLA Strategy Management Group. He was the chair of the earlier Options Appraisal Study which looked at the relationship between VLA and the Institute for Animal Health and he now attends our quarterly performance meetings and strategy workshops.

Research & Surveillance

The year saw the end of tuberculin production and large scale brucellosis testing at VLA as a result of strategic decisions taken by Defra and VLA.

The report of the Independent Scientific Group on bovine tuberculosis, published in 2007, recognised the major role we play in the research and surveillance of this disease. This work continues to be high priority and during the year we have been involved in wide ranging projects on mycobacterial culture, diagnosis and epidemiology, and the development of badger and cattle vaccines including associated immunological tools.

We welcomed and supported the first World Rabies Day held on 8 September 2007 which was introduced to raise awareness of the disease. Rabies remains a major threat in Asia and Africa and we are actively involved in international networks on this disease. Our Rabies & Wildlife Group was re-designated as a WHO Collaborating Centre for a further four years.

During the year we reported a sixth case of a European bat lyssavirus type-2 (EBLV-2) in a female adult Daubenton’s bat found in Shropshire. The genetic analysis of this bat lyssavirus was compared to a lyssavirus from a Daubenton’s bat found in Surrey in 2004 and both sequences shared 100% identity.

Our work on salmonellosis provided a major contribution to the development of advice on controlling this infection and a new Defra Code of Practice. With a target to reduce the prevalence of Salmonella in layer flocks in the United Kingdom by 10% each year from 2008, The Control of Salmonella in Poultry Order was introduced in January 2008. VLA activities will be important in fulfilling the requirements of this legislation.

Our studies on transmissible spongiform encephalopathies continue with an increased focus on scrapie in sheep and goats. This year we have confirmed experimentally the transmission of scrapie from ewe to lamb via milk. Progress has also been made in developing a more sensitive test for the detection of prion proteins from the blood of sheep with terminal scrapie. This test increases the chance of a long sought-after ante mortem method of screening TSE-susceptible sheep for evidence of infection.

Our scanning surveillance system continued from strength to strength, with increasingly high quality and informative reports. These include the detection of new diseases such as Toxocara vitulorum in cattle in South Wales, which may be linked to global warming, and ‘corvid respiratory syndrome’ in rooks and crows, which has shown similarities to fowl cholera.

Our strength in international trade testing has been recognised through our selection as the reference laboratory for the diagnosis of equine mange during the Beijing Olympic Games. During the year we have met with the Hong Kong authorities to finalise our testing of horses competing in the Games.

Awards

It was pleasing to see the work of VLA recognised by a number of prestigious awards during the year:

• At the Animal Pharm Industry Excellence Awards presented in London in September 2007, VLA was awarded the British Veterinary Association Leading Veterinary Laboratory of the Year and the Outstanding Licensing Deal of the Year with our commercial partner, QIAGEN.
• The Emergency Serosurveillance Team, with members from both VLA and Animal Health, won an Outstanding Defra Team Award for its quick delivery of serological results during the FMD outbreak.
• VLA Penrith received a Gold Award in the Cumbria Business Education Consortium Annual Awards which recognises successful work experience.
• The new Animal Services headquarters at Weybridge won the Green Apple Gold Award for ‘National Green Champion in Government’.

Also, VLA Newcastle celebrated completing its one millionth BSE test on fallen stock, using the Bio-Rad kit. The rapid ELISA test detects the disease-associated form of the prion protein (PrPSc) in the central nervous system and no other laboratory using this assay has tested so many samples.

Looking Ahead

As this review goes to press, we shall be populating our new corporate headquarters and data sciences building, to be known as the Weybourne Building, picking up the names of our two local rivers. The building will house up to 300 staff in predominantly open plan office space, spread over three levels. The ground floor has a library, restaurant, e-café as well as conference and video conference facilities.

The building will achieve a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating as it includes numerous sustainability and renewable energy features such as wind turbines, solar panels, a TermoDeck air handling system and rainwater attenuation tanks.

As part of a regular five-year cycle we have started a comprehensive review of our corporate strategy, which includes speaking to a wide range of stakeholders. The aim is to launch the new strategy from 2009/10 onwards. We are faced with a major challenge in funding from our main customer group in Defra. We will seek to manage this without jeopardising the quality of our science or services.

In the medium term we will also be affected by the outcome of discussions and consultations on Defra’s Responsibility and Cost Sharing Programme which is likely to increase the influence of the livestock industry on our priorities and funding streams.